Where is the flu this year?
Ah the good old days of flu, when people weren’t too scared to come out from behind the sofa. And yet it caused more deaths than the Wuflu.
Influenza kills up to 25 000 people a year in England and Wales, report says
Roger Dobson
Additional article information
A new analysis of the burden of influenza in England and Wales has been published by a team from the Health Protection Agency's centre for infections.
The authors say that flu causes between 10 500 and 25 000 deaths a year in England and Wales and is responsible for about 800 000 visits to GPs a year, a seventh of all visits for respiratory disease (Journal of Infection 2006 Nov 9, doi: 10.1016/j.jinf.2006.09.017).
“Although there are significant uncertainties, and considerable year on year variations, it is clear that the burden of influenza is considerable. Although much of this burden falls on the elderly, significant numbers of general practice consultations, hospitalisations and even some deaths occur annually in children in England and Wales,” they say.
Documenting the burden of influenza is not straightforward for a number of reasons, the authors say. Morbidity may be complicated by secondary bacterial infections and recorded under non-specific syndromes, including pneumonia, and only a fraction of cases are investigated microbiologically.
For the analysis, the team used laboratory reports from the Health Protection Agency, GP consultation and hospitalisation rates, and mortality and population data from the Office for National Statistics. The period covered was 1996 to 2004.
The results estimate that influenza A causes an average of 585 000 (95% confidence interval 416 000 to 1 001 000) consultations with GPs; 19 000 (14 000 to 24 000) hospital admissions; and 9700 (8900 to 10 500) deaths from respiratory disease a year.
When secondary bacterial infections and attributable deaths from other causes are included, the number of deaths rises to 21 700 (20 000 to 23 400). The burden of influenza B is estimated at 3100 (2300 to 3900) deaths.
The report estimated that influenza causes between 10 500 (9400 to 11 600) and almost 25 000 (22 500 to 27 500) deaths on average each year in England and Wales.
Of the 5.5 million consultations a year with GPs in England and Wales for acute respiratory illness, the report estimates that about 600 000 are attributable to influenza A, and half the cases are in children. A further 200 000 cases are attributable to influenza B.
The results also show that about 20 000 hospital admissions are attributable to influenza A, including 4200 from children under 4 years old. A further 8000 admissions may be because of secondary bacterial infections after influenza A.
They can hear but they’re listening Olof 


